A Great Disconnect

India’s ‘IT capital’ has had a mixed response to the budget. There is some cheer for the planned IT townships, although no specific budgetary allocation is to be seen. The much talked about Rs 6,000-crore Metro rail project gets a "token amount" of Rs 30 crore. "At this rate, it’ll take 25 years to complete the project," deputy CM Yediyurappa noted. The only big gain seems to be the access-controlled expressway between the city and Chennai, but this is seen as a gesture to the finance minister’s home state. With no big gains in the railway budget either, the "unfavourable" disposition towards the state is being linked to the recent regime change, when JD(S) "dumped" Congress to go with the BJP.